Volvere Share Discussion Threads

[eezymunny] 05/2/2016 08:00

I think you'll see a few more very soon.

[rivaldo] 05/2/2016 07:57

Nice to see a pre-open buy today at 415p :o))

[rivaldo] 29/1/2016 08:58

More news from Impetus - launch of a new software product. To think that VLE acquired £15m of turnover PLUS a load of IP with Impetus for just £1.3m. Just as good a deal as JMP if not better.....



"Impetus Automotive Launch Activity Manager
January 26, 2016

Impetus Automotive have revealed their latest software to support Vehicle Manufacturers and their Franchised Networks - A flexible web-based tool that allows the management of “dispersed teams” through their common workflows.

Franchised Networks exist to provide a local geographic solution for Vehicle Manufacturers’ prospective and current customers. This dispersed arrangement of locations creates a challenge for Vehicle Manufacturers as they coordinate multiple individuals with common activities and processes across a market. The new software solution from Impetus Automotive provides a solution to “dispersed” teams with shared workflows, providing real-time management and coordination.

The solution is already implemented across a variety of field and Dealer based roles as Andy Mills, Consultation Services Director, explains: “At its most basic, the tool supports the following: Scheduling a visit or task; performing a visit or task; recording the outcomes and actions; monitoring agreed objectives and recording progress through set activities. However the unique benefit of Activity Manager is its flexibility to deliver a wide interpretation of these tasks. This sees it supporting everything from Coaching and Sales Activity to Used Vehicle Appraisals.”

The tool has been designed to cope with the challenges of working across a typical Franchised Network, working on and off-line to support connectivity issues, whilst providing a simple interface for both computer and mobile technology users. It provides the “field” user with the ability to manage their daily tasks, whilst reducing administration time. Meanwhile the manager is able to control and report on their team’s activities.

Andy is enthusiastic about the tool’s future: “Activity Manager can support almost any workflow that can be broken down into common or structured tasks and outcomes. It can also be quickly deployed in terms of development and training, allowing managers to take advantage of ever more available mobile technology to virtually bring their team closer together.”"

[rivaldo] 28/1/2016 09:57

Impetus expansion news - very encouraging to see the talk of contract wins and new office openings:



"Impetus Automotive expands into Australia
December 04, 2015

Impetus Automotive has opened a new regional office in Melbourne, Australia, to better support its clients’ increasing requests for support in this market.

Impetus Automotive has been running programmes in the Australian Market for a number of years, the majority of these projects have been based around research objectives such as mystery shopping, parts price research and franchised Dealer benchmarking and assessment. More recently, the automotive consultancy has won a series of programmes that have warranted a permanent resource base in Australia.

Traditionally strong in the UK and European Markets, over the last year the company has been operating a global Trade Parts programme for a premium car manufacturer which has seen the business open offices in Germany, China and Japan to support the logistics of these new operations. More recently Impetus Automotive has won a global Dealer Auditing programme with another premium vehicle manufacturer and has also been asked to deliver coaching and dealer development programmes for a major motorcycle brand, specifically within the Australian Market.

David Gorvett, Managing Director for International Development explains: “Our expansion into Australia sees us creating a strong foundation in the region, to better support our clients with leading sales and aftersales programmes. We have vast experience of operating within both young and mature vehicle markets and we are excited to bring this support to the Australian Automotive sector.

“We have recently appointed Howard Joshua as head of our Australian operations and look forward to supporting him in developing both his team and business throughout Australasia.”"

[eezymunny] 05/1/2016 12:32

I used to share that view to a degree topvest. The Landers reward themselves pretty well. Total dir remuneration was c. £600k last year. They seem to take about 10% of the uplift in value they create from acquisition to disposal. So a kind of hedge fundy arrangement.

You have, however, to put that in context IMO. Compound growth in NAV/share has been c. 17% pa over the last decade. You get what you pay for I guess. It's a very good record and you can buy here at something like a 25% discount to my estimated year end 2015 NAV (of which something like £17m is cash vs market cap of c. £17.5m. With luck we'll see disposals of Shire/ Impetus for a decent premium to NAV over the next year or two - plus new stuff of course.

Here's the whole history in rough numbers. Excuse the formatting.

Bought Cost £m Sold Proceeds £m
Vectra May 03 2 Oct-07 6
Sira Test & certification Sep 05 1.42 Jul-09 8.6
Sira Environmental + Meerkat Mar 06 0.03
NMT takeover Sep 06 5.3 Dec-06 6 5.8m cash dec 06
IPT Interactibe Prospect Sep 08 1.45 Dec-13 3.6
Shire Jul 11 0.5
JMP May 13 0.41 Dec-15 6
Impetus Mar 15 1.3

The track record is 100% success AFAICS. They take their time waiting for the right deals to come along...which will have caused a few to lose patience along the way!

Things can always go wrong of course but the track record is good enough for me to have a decent stake.

I don't think they've ever done anything untoward and have been listed since 2002.

[topvest] 05/1/2016 11:46

Interesting vehicle this. I've looked a few times, but not purchased on the basis that I'm not sure I trust the management team. The rewards seem to go to them rather than wider minority shareholders. Interested to hear opposing views, so any thoughts...can management here be trusted?

[mathewawood] 05/1/2016 10:17

clacre - Loved to know where you get the "Morrisons dependent" info. Can't find anything concrete regarding its customers apart from the suggestion that its recently new won contracts were "low cost" supermarkets. The shire website hasn't been updated for years.

[rivaldo] 04/1/2016 14:53

Agreed re the risk/reward EM - it does indeed seem super, especially with a likely £17m-£18m cash pile against the £17.6m m/cap!

I suspect Shire Foods are indeed on the "sell" list, but of course the correct deal has to be struck. The sale price will be interesting to see in particular given the freehold property which it owns - hopefully my £8m in the header post will be on the money as was my JMP forecast.

Incidentally, my feeling is that Shire also supply the "low-cost" chains, i.e Aldi, Lidl etc. These have of course been booming, though margins would naturally be tight.

[clacre] 04/1/2016 12:25

I think I'd be looking to sell Shire now if there are any potential buyers around. It seems to be pretty much Morrisons dependent and Morrisons are rumoured to be in trouble again. They've turned Shire around - it's now making reasonable money - why take any risks?

[eezymunny] 04/1/2016 10:30

FWIW I've stuck VLE in my new EEZY3 portfolio.



Might go wrong - Shire lose contracts, Impetus a dud, a lousy acquisition, losses on short term investments with cash etc etc, but risk/reward looks awfully smashing to me.

[rivaldo] 04/1/2016 08:36

Happy New Year to you Melf, and everyone else here.

Agreed as regards VLE being a true bargain - especially since the share price is barely above where it was before the sale of JMP for £5.5m cash.

There are still some shares available to pick up at present as I noted above. Very unusual for VLE.

[melf] 22/12/2015 12:04

Thanks for your posts Riv. Can't believe the share price is back to where it was a few weeks ago following the recent sale. A true bargain here for the patient methinks.

Happy Xmas and prosperous new year to all holders.

[rivaldo] 22/12/2015 11:22

If anyone wants to quickly buy a decent stake, now's the time - there's 5k available to buy online at 429p. That doesn't happen very often (it's probably Marks/Zimmerman top-slicing a few).

[rivaldo] 21/12/2015 08:22

You may (or may not) remember that Sira Defence tied up with the impressive American company MotionDSP earlier this year, as an "integral part" of their IkenaForensic package.

I came across this article which predicts a wide range of sectors for which this package is attractive, including the use of drones - it'll be interesting to see if Siraview gains further traction this H2:



Extract:

“We are working within a number of industries—including law enforcement, transportation, research and academic labs—who can take advantage of our Forensics video enhancement software,” said Benjamin Solhjem, MotionDSP Product Manager. “With the advent of drones and increased use of police dash and body cameras, and, of course existing closed-circuit cameras, we can help the people responsible for solving problems and answering questions take immediate action from thousands of hours of video.”

[eezymunny] 18/12/2015 16:36

Don't forget the assets disposed of were £1.4m at end June Rivaldo, so uplift to NAV about 100p today by my sums. By Dec 31 however there will be H2 profits to add in. Shire may do a £1m in H2 with any luck. Or not!

[rivaldo] 18/12/2015 13:38

VLE is now a much bigger bargain than it was yesterday. Taking purely the reported NAV, VLE was trading at a 13% discount to that NAV of 432p.

Today the reported NAV has increased to around 570p, yet the share price at 430p is now at a doubled 25% discount to NAV. On that basis you'd at least expect the share price to rise to 500p from here.

[eezymunny] 18/12/2015 11:24

Asagi is just talking cobblers clacre. One assumes they'll just carry as they have been until they've had enough and wind the thing up - at which point anyone and everyone will have their own tax considerations as shareholders (if outside ISA, SIPP etc). That may be years away. Maybe a special divi some day. Who knows? Who cares?

[clacre] 18/12/2015 11:20

Thinking about it wouldn't the best wind-up solution be to sell the three companies and then sell the cash rich shell to an IPO candidate - not that the Landers would be interested in doing that whilst they are in a dream position of three bites at the cherry as opposed to our one. I guess that is why Lord Kalms got out (and lost out in the process) and those two recent sales by big shareholders indicated that they may also be sellers (hopefully losing out too). Hard to know what to wish for!

[clacre] 18/12/2015 11:06

Asagi - could you please explain what you mean by "for tax reasons VLE is very unlikely to sell everything and return all cash to shareholders". If I sell now in the market I make a big capital gain. If I wait until a liquidation I receive a capital distribution (higher than the share price) and that would be subject to capital gains. If they sell Shire/Sira/Impetus as part of a liquidation rather than on a normal ongoing trading basis would the company tax position be any different? So I don't get what the tax implications would be but I'd be delighted to find out!

[topvest] 18/12/2015 11:02

They have done quite well. I am suspicious of management though. Are they ever going to share the rewards with minority shareholders? I think not.

[asagi] 18/12/2015 10:46

and remember that for tax reasons, Volvere is very unlikely to sell everything and return all cash to shareholders.

Sometimes we need to be pragmatic about things like success bonuses for management and gifting management a stake in acquired businesses.

Asagi (no position)

[melf] 18/12/2015 10:45

£17M+ in the bank and a market cap of just under £18M. Apparently Shire is worth virtually nothing...lol.

[rivaldo] 18/12/2015 10:31

Indeed - imo this is one very good reason why VLE make a habit of snapping up good businesses at very cheap price. VLE not only have a great track record now, but they also ensure that the existing management participate in the upside from any turnaround. It's a formula which works.

With JMP sold, Shire Foods demanding little attention now, and £17m+ in the bank, hopefully VLE can keep the news flow going with further acquisitions soon.

[asagi] 18/12/2015 09:57

Remember, deals like JMP (which if I recall was a pre-pack) need to happen fast. To do that, Volvere needs to retain a significant pile of cash on its balance sheet.

Then, in addition, loans may have to be made to the business.

Worth noting that JMP management have done well out of this too.

Asagi (no position)

[eezymunny] 18/12/2015 09:56

Gosh PI's do make me larf. Here's the VLE tangible NAV/share since 2005.

78p,148,174,175,307,329,344,348,373,427p and this year end maybe 550-575p (My estimate). Yep TNAV/share is c. 7 x what is was 10 years ago.

And you're all moaning ;)

When Shire is sold and the TNAV is £7+ will you still be moaning?!!